The North Newark UFO Case:
Anatomy of a Journalistic Investigation
(cont.)

Utility
Company

Finally, I put a call in to
PSE&G, hoping they could provide a clue to the mystery. They did
have an answer. "We had an underground cable failure and manhole
explosion at 10:37 on that date," explained Neil Brown, manager of
public information for PSE&G. "The area served by that 26,000 volt
circuit just touches the area in question. So customers in that area
could have noticed a momentary dimming of lights as a result of that,
but not a complete power outage, like the one that affected some
customers for one hour and eight minutes. The jolt from the cable
failure may have blown off the manhole cover on Bloomfield Avenue. That
was close enough [two blocks from the Gonzalez residence] that it could
have been felt."

Brown believes the underground cable failure may also have caused the
flash of light reported. "At the instant that the cable fails," he
explains, "there is a release of energy that could result in a flash,
or an arcing, at the same time there is enough force to blow off the
manhole cover. It's quite likely people in the vicinity could have
noticed that."